The author, a botanist, horticulturalist, and journalist of long standing, embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of the world around her armed with a gift for noticing what most of us miss in life. She trains a fresh, clear eye on the minute as easily as the immense, showing us how to appreciate the brilliance and majesty of what can so easily pass for the mundane and inconsequential. The range of her interests is simply extraordinary, and she attends to her subject--essentially, an education in seeing--with wit, charm, and great elan.